Ireland Wright

Indigenous Versus Inquisitors: Relation between the Mexican

Inquisition and Pre-colonial Communities

Ireland Wright

As Catholicism spread around the world through missionaries, explorers, and immigrants, certain political conditions were required for Europeans to create valuable political and economic alliances.1 In the case of the Americas, specifically central countries like Mexico, the objective of Spanish conquests in the New World was to cultivate the Catholic faith.2 Following the Papal Bull of 1493 which gave the Spanish dominion over territories discovered by Columbus, individuals flocked to the colonies in order to exploit newly found resources, and convert pre-Colonial individuals to Christianity.3 With the arrival of Hernán Cortés, Mexico became subject to colonization at the hands of multiple inquisitions through 1522 to 1601, with the official implementation of the Holy Tribunal being 1559.4 Throughout transitions from inquisition to inquisition, the subject of what should be done about the “Indians” was a prime concern of the early Mexican Church. Indigenous individuals were subjected to the Catholic Reformation era ideals by missionaries, and later inquisitors. They were required to adapt pre-colonial spiritual and religious beliefs in order to survive; thus some pre-contact practices survived amongst the native people of Mexico. The Mexican Inquisition only became possible due to previous political conditions. In the early Sixteenth century, Conquistadors took advantage of Indigenous populations in order to

76 Babel Volume XXI exploit their livelihoods. Hernán Cortés, arguably one of the most famous Conquistadors, manipulated the Tlaxcallan to reject Aztec hegemony, supply troops to his army, and successfully lay waste to the Aztec Capital Tenochtitlan; what is now modern-day Mexico City.5 It is because of native exploitation by Conquistadors that friars of the Fransican, Dominican, and Augustinian varieties were able to begin their Spiritual Conquest of Mesoamerica.6 The

Spanish Inquisition extended into all colonies, and the purpose of the Holy Office of the Inquisition in colonial Mexico was to defend Spanish religion and Spanish-Catholic culture.7 As the military conquest of the Aztecs concluded in 1521, both the Spanish government and church sought to demonstrate necessary examples of Christian conduct and principle to Indigneous peoples in

Mesoamerica, as to ensure no heretics populated newly acquired land.8 Cooperation between church and state resulted in the involvement of the Holy Office of the Inquisition, which sought power over the newly acquired colonies, especially Mexico. During the first fifty years of Mexican conquest, monastic dignitaries acted as inquisitors. Pope Adrian VI authorized monastic prelates to perform as secular clergy in territory where there was no bishop nearby.9 Once Bishop Juan de Zumarraga received his bulls of consecration in Spain, he was eventually ruled apostolic inquisitor by the Council of the Supreme Inquisition in Spain on June 27, 1535.10 Zumarraga was stripped of his title in 1543 due to his ruling on the famous trials of Indigenous leader Don Carlos Chichimecatecuhtli, and was ultimately burned at the stake for “undermining the Spanish Church and Spanish political power in Mexico”.11 Subsequently, the Episcopal Inquisition commenced, followed by that of Alonso Montufar, Zumarraga’s successor and second archbishop of Mexico.12 Dissatisfaction with the Episcopal Inquisition led Spanish church and state to implement expert prosecutors, creating a tribunal of the Holy

Office of the Inquisition in Mexico in 1559.13 The Holy Office

Babel Volume XXI 77 absorbed general Episcopal jurisdiction over heresy. However, King Philip II of Spain prevented the tribunal from having jurisdiction over Indigenous individuals who remained the responsibility of bishops.14 Catholic interests in the New World focused on missionary work; an extension of efforts at home to block Protestant advances and reclaim the continent for Catholicism.15 The ultimate goal was cultural hegemony. Issues persisted as friars and missionaries made their way into the new world. Most missionaries, due to language barriers, enforced the practice of orthopraxy over orthodoxy; right action over right belief.16 Missionaries, mostly Fransicans, would arrange catechisms and collections of prayers, as well as scenes of sacred theatre. Dominican Francisco de Vitoria displays the consciousness of the missionary project through his work On the Indians of the New World. He explains in these articles that the Pope has no sovereignty over Indigenous peoples, and they have not resisted Christianity but have instead not been properly informed.17 He notes it is no wonder Indigenous people have rejected Christianity, as the Spanish have committed great atrocities against them. Vitoria explains that Indigenous peoples can only be persuaded to convert through the use of tangible evidence or through an “example of good life”, saying that, “If the Christian faith is proposed to the Indians persuasively, with the provision of forceful and rational arguments - the Indians are required to accept the Christian faith under the penalty of moral sin….”18 However, the imposition of the multiple inquisitions in colonial Mexico which brought concepts of more violent conversions and subordinations. Despite the belief that Indigenous individuals would convert and participate in Catholicism if done out of their own free will, the nature of the Inquisition was to persecute individuals who were deemed heretics and “enemies of the faith”.19 Missionaries, and later the Mexican Inquisition, focused specifically on two concepts; heresy and idolatry. According to Catholic dogma of the period, heresy equals choice, as

78 Babel Volume XXI it refers to an individual's choice to believe in things other than what is established by a particular religion.20 Idolatry, from the Spanish Catholic perspective, focused on the worship of items, such as statues or art, as a God; for example, the Devil or idols relating to a non-Catholic god.21 Pedro

Ciruelo, professor of Theology and teacher of Philip II of Spain explains the relation between the concepts of heresy and idolatry.

With these beliefs came the assumption by the Spanish that Native Indigenous individuals lived in a more primitive state, and that the Spaniards’ civilized nature brought Christinity with it.

Bartolome de las Casas, later bishop of Chiapas, suggested idolatry was natural as humans constantly strived for knowledge of a higher being.22 Therefore it was only natural that supposed primitive individuals would create false gods in their pursuit of a higher being, as they had never been educated on Christianity or the

Catholic God. Although conversion was the goal of the Inquisition in

Mexico, the Indigenous populations had other ideas. The individuals of most concern to the Inquisition were sorcerers, witches or

“curers” who openly defied the religion the Inquisition attempted to force in Indigenous individuals. They established schools and apprenticeships amongst Indigenous youth to promote native spirituality.23 This negative attitude to conversion encouraged the creation of a counter-culture, through performing sacrifices, acts of sorcery, and supporting practices of concubinage and bigamy.24 Seen as a threat to Catholicism and Spanish culture, these individuals were branded as “Dogmatizers” by the Inquisition. It is recognized that Native Mexicans attempted to manipulate the

Inquisition's procedures by denouncing Spanish-appointed caciques or “political bosses” of idolatry to deprive them of offices.25 Indigenous individuals would also accuse each other of idolatry and human sacrifice, in order to attack political enemies.

26 Conversion, or the denouncement of another was an entry point for non-Catholics to gain access to systems of the Iberian Penin-

Babel Volume XXI 79 sula, as well as Spanish institutions.27 There are also situations in which women claim to have a special connection with Christ himself, giving them a unique opportunity to advance their societal and economic position. This is due to individuals in their communities coming to them for advice or help, especially wealthy men seeking insight.28 An example of this is Marina de San Miguel, who was tried by the Inquisition in 1599. Well known for trances where she communicated with Christ and other saints, members of her community and even clergy came to seek her counsel.29 However, it was converts and mestizos, individuals of mixed race typically of Spanish and Indigenous descent, who became the objects of suspicion for the Inquisition, even though they had followed appropriate religious doctrine and rules.30 As religious control was established under the Mexican Inquisition, many Indigenous groups and individuals were subject to punishment for crimes against the Catholic faith. The first recorded instance of a trial under the Mexican Inquisition involved Marcos of Acolhuacin, who, in 1522, was accused of the crime of concubinage.31 In 1525, as many as nineteen Indigenous people were accused of religious crimes were tried under Bishop Zumarraga during the period of 1536 to 1543.32 There were also instances where Indigenous individuals accused of conducting rituals were whipped, and those suspected of being “recidivist idolaters” were incarcerated.33 The Mexican Office of the Inquisition used the cárcel secretal in Mexico City, the “secret prison”, where enemies of the faith were placed. Prisoner Alexo de Castro explained that other than Indigenous individuals, his prisonmates included “protestant heretics, blaspheming Angolan slaves, abusive priests, peyote users, mulata sorcerers, errant scholars, false priests, fortune-tellers, two Berber Muslims, and and Irishman who had sought to overthrow the colonial regime and crown himself King of Mexico”.34 The Church and Inquisition prosecuted Native Mexicans, even those who converted to the faith that the colonial office of the Inquisition sought to promote and pro-

tect.

Despite appearing to convert, many Indigenous groups in Mexico held onto pre-colonial beliefs. Momentary leniency by the Spanish Catholic church in Mexico during certain periods of the multiple phases of the Inquisition allowed for the emergence of a “religious baroque” amongst Indigenous communities.35 It is known from research that despite protests of individual clergy, and the prosecution of specific individuals under the Inquisition, writers of the period attest that the Catholic Church in colonial Mexico did accommodate a variety of regional belief.36 The traditions of local religion and “indigenous Christianity”, the combining of different forms of belief or practice, observed the combining of Roman Catholic traditions with pre-colonial practices. The word ‘syncretism’ does not do the situation posed on native Mexicans justice. Syncretism, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, describes the term as “Attempted union or reconciliation of diverse or opposite tenets or practices, esp. in philosophy or religion.37 Native cosmological beliefs define the earth as interconnected with humans through sacred landscapes, animals and spirits; while caves, hills and water were designated by myths as places of origin.38 All of the sacred space on earth was seen as belonging to gods, who in exchange for devotional acts such as human and animal sacrifice, gave humanity parts of said land.39 It is in these already sacred spaces that religion became “territorialized”; symbols and images deemed important by the Spanish Catholic church were placed in these areas in order to promote Christianity over the Indigenous beliefs.40 Indigenous peoples also absorbed certain Christian figures into their own pre-colonial pantheons. A significant example is the Virgin of Guadalupe. When shown to the Indigenous peoples of Mexico, she was almost instantly associated with the Aztec goddess Tonantzin; also called Coatlicue.41 Both figures are considered mother deities. Indigenous individuals found incorporating Guadalupe easy as she was compatible with already estab-

Babel Volume XXI 81 lished traditions, like the consumption of the maguey plant in Tonantzin’s honour. In certain Indigenous groups, the Catholic Virgin Guadalupe is still referred to as Tonantzin.42 There has also been a heavy association between Jesus Christ and the mesoamerican god Quetzalcoatl. 43 Myths surrounding Quetzalcoatl involve his descent into the underworld, where he performs the ultimate sacrifice by providing his blood, to give back life to humanity.44 Legend says Quetzalcoatl “gathered the bones of the dead, sprinkled them with his own blood, and recreated humanity:”45 Further, all myths surrounding his death share a key characteristic; though he was gone, Quetzacoatl was not dead, and he would return - “hasta hoy le esperan”.46 Similarly, Jesus Christ sacrificed himself on the cross, so humanity might be saved from sin. The giving of Jesus’ blood in multiple parables, including the Last Supper and the piercing of his side during the Crucifixion, portrays the important sacrifice of human blood that some Indigenous communities, like the Aztecs and Mayans, uphold. The concepts of sacrifice and resurrection run deeply through both Indigenous spirituality and Christianity, so Jesus’ incorporation into pre-colonial Mexican beliefs was not difficult. Indigenous communities in Mexico also used Christian celebrations as a way to hide native ritual practice, as well as resist colonial conversion. The celebration of Corpus Christi, the celebration of the transubstantiation of Christ’s body during the Eucharist, incorporated participation of Indigenous peoples.47 Through participation, Indigenous groups incorporated traditional practices with Catholicism. Evidence of this has been shown in artwork. Biombos, two-sided folding screens, had been produced in Mexico’s capital depicting historical scenes of the city and the Spanish conquest.48 A biombo created by Juan Correa displays Indigenous individuals in costume performing traditional dances of Mexico, referred to as mitotes. The use of mitotes during the Eucharist ceremony has been documented throughout the colonial period of Mexico, as they were common during festivals

82 Babel Volume XXI around Mexican cities, and are identified as being associated with

Indigenous people’s “pagan” past.49 This is an example of Indigenous individuals participating in Catholic celebrations in order to appease Mexican church officials and inquisitors, while also asserting their right to conduct pre-colonial ritual practices. The specific training indigenous dancers needed before conducting such ritualized dances connected the individual with past generational knowledge provided by their kin.50 Throughout the colonization and conquest of Mexico throughout the sixteenth century, Indigenous communities like the Aztecs, Mayans, Nahua, and many more saved important spiritual and cultural rituals and practices from the clutches of conversion. Though missionaries and inquisitors attempted to impose Catholic beliefs, indigenous communities saved their pantheon of gods and ritual dances by merging them with Catholicism. Harsh persecution, did not stop native Mexicans from protecting their beliefs.

Notes 1 Simon Ditchfield, “Catholic Reformation and Renewal,” in The Oxford Illustrated History of The Reformation (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015), 256. 2 Henry Charles, The Inquisition in the Spanish Dependencies (London: The Macmillan Company, 1908), 191. 3 Charles, The Inquisition in the Spanish Dependencies, 194. 4 Charles, The Inquisition in the Spanish Dependencies, 207. 5 Ditchfield, “Catholic Reformation and Renewal,” 154. 6 Ditchfield, “Catholic Reformation and Renewal,” 158. 7 Richard Greenleaf, “The Mexican Inquisition and the Indians: Sources for the Ethnohistorian,” The Americas 34, no. 3 (1978): 7. 8 Richard Greenleaf, The Mexican Inquisition of the Sixteenth Century. (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1969), 315. 9 Greenleaf, “Sources for Ethnohistorians”, 315. 10 Richard Greenleaf. - (Washington: Academy of American Franciscan History, 1962). 11 Greenleaf, , 68. 12 Greenleaf, The Mexican Inquisition of the Sixteenth Century, 118. 13 Greenleaf, The Mexican Inquisition of the Sixteenth Century, 158. 14 McKenna Vonderstrasse, “Testing the Limits: The Inquisition as a Destabilizing Force in Colonial Latin America” (History Undergraduate Publications and Presentations at University of Portland, 2017), 2. 15 Margaret King, Reformation Thought (Indianapolis/Cambridge: Hacket Pub-

lishing Company, 2016), 182. 16 Ditchfield, “Catholic Reformation and Renewal,” 161. 17 King, Reformation Though, 186. 18 King, Reformation Thought, 188. 19 King, Reformation Thought, 188. 20 Mina Soormally, “Idolatry and the Construction of the Spanish Empire” (Department of Romance Studies Duke University, 2007), 19. 21 Soormally, “Idolatry and the Construction of the Spanish Empire,” 26. 22 Soormally, “Idolatry and the Construction of the Spanish Empire,” 33. 23 Greenleaf, “Sources for Ethnohistorians,” 319. 24 Greenleaf, “Sources for Ethnohistorians,” 319. 25 Greenleaf, “Sources for Ethnohistorians,” 316. 26 Amanda Summers, “The Insidious Case of Ignacia Gertrudis de Ochoa: Gender, Personal Relationships, Ethnicity, and Diabolism in the late Eighteenth-Century Diocese of Guadalajara” (Graduate School at University of Nevada, 2018), 38. 27 Ryan Crewe, “Transpacific Mestizo: Religion and Caste in the Worlds of a Moluccan Prisoner of the Mexican Inquisition.” Itinerario 39, no. 3 (2015): 465. 28 Jacqueline Holler, “‘More Sins than the Queen of England’: Marina de San Miguel Before the Mexican Inquisition,” in Women in the Inquisition: Spain and the New World (John Hopkins University Press, 1998), 218. 29 Holler, “‘More Sins than the Queen of England,’” 226. 30 Crewe, “Transpacific Mestizo,” 465. 31 Greenleaf, “Sources for Ethnohistorians,” 322. 32 Greenleaf, “Sources for Ethnohistorians,” 322. 33 Kristin Norget, “Hard Habits to Baroque: Catholic Church and PopularIndigenous Religious Dialogue in Oaxaca, Mexico” Revista Canadiense de Estudios Hispánicos 33 (2008): 140. 34 Crewe, “Transpacific Mestizo,” 474. 35 Greenleaf, “Sources for Ethnohistorians,” 316. 36 Greenleaf, “Sources for Ethnohistorians,” 317. 37 Oxford English Dictionary. 2021. “syncretism, n.” OED. 38 Norget, “Hard Habits to Baroque,” 143. 39 Norget, “Hard Habits to Baroque,” 143. 40 Norget, “Hard Habits to Baroque,” 144. 41 William Madsen, The Virgin's Children: Life in an Aztec Village Today. (Texas: University of Texas Press, 1960), 221. 42 Madsen, The Virgin's Children, 221. 43 Judith Elkin, Imaging Idolatry: Missionaries, Indians and Jews (Providence: Tuoro National Heritage Trust, 1992), 25. 44 Steven Hartman, “Quetzalcoatl without Jesus Christ.” (ScholarWorks at University of Montana, 1996), 21. 45 Lesley Wylie, Maria C. Fumagalli, Owen Robinson, and Peter Hulme, Surveying the American Tropics: A Literary Geography from New York to Rio (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2013), 94. 46 Hartman, “Quetzalcoatl without Jesus Christ,” 22. 47 Peterson, Anna.“Indigenous Culture and Religion before and since the Con-

84 Babel Volume XXI quest,” Latin American Research Review 36, no. 2 (2001): 243. 48 Mundy, Barbara, “Moteuczoma Reborn: Biombo Paintings and Collective

Memory in Colonial Mexico City” Winterthur Portfolio 45, no. 2/3 (2011): 161. 49 Mundy, “Moteuczoma Reborn.” 50 Mundy, “Moteuczoma Reborn,” 175.

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Babel Volume XXI 85 pire.” Department of Romance Studies Duke University, 2007. Summers, Amanda. “The Insidious Case of Ignacia Gertrudis de Ochoa: Gender, Personal Relationships, Ethnicity, and Diabolism in the late Eighteenth-Century Diocese of Guadalajara.” Graduate School at University of Nevada, 2018. Vonderstrasse, McKenna. “Testing the Limits: The Inquisition as a Destabilizing Force in Colonial Latin America.” History Undergraduate Publications and Presentations at University of Portland, 2017. Wylie, Lesley, Maria C. Fumagalli, Owen Robinson, and Peter Hulme, eds. Surveying the American Tropics: A Literary Geography from New York to Rio. Liverpool University Press, 2013.